GRAND FORKS, N.D. (AP) -- An asteroid has been named for the founder and first dean of the University of North Dakota's aerospace school.
An International Astronomical Union committee approved the asteroid named for John D. Odegard.
Vishnu Reddy, a research faculty member in the UND Department of Space Studies, nominated the aviation pioneer's name after discovering the asteroid in March 2003. It orbits the sun between Mars and Jupiter.
The new name was published in the Minor Planet Circular from the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory.
